1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a processing system and a method of programming the processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Data processing is utilized in a number of different manufacturing and business related applications for accomplishing a virtually unlimited variety of tasks. One field in which data processing systems are employed is in the field of automaton, control, data collection, and instrumentation. An actual instrument or actuator, such as a load cell, hydraulic valve, or servomotor, creates streams of data in real time or requires real time command streams. A computer, which includes the data processing system, interfaces with the instruments to collect and analyze the data and produce appropriate commands. Prior art data processing systems implemented to accomplish this data collection, as well as a variety of other tasks, utilize different design configurations and are typically organized in a network fashion. Networks may be arranged in a variety of configurations such as a bus or linear topology, a star topology, ring topology, and the like. Within the network there are typically a plurality of nodes and communication links which interconnect each of the nodes. The nodes are part of the processing system and are connected to each of the instruments to individually collect the data outputted by the instruments. The nodes may also be computers, terminals, workstations, other actuators, additional data collectors, sensors, or the like. The nodes typically have a processor, a memory, and various other hardware and software components. The nodes communicate with each other over the communication links within the network to obtain and send information. In a typical application, there may be numerous nodes communicating in a variety of different paths.
A user of the processing system frequently develops and requires conceptual models of the physical system in order to assist the user in programming and utilizing the processing system. Programming this type of data processing system utilizing the nodes can be a daunting task, even for a professional programmer. There are numerous subtle complexities that a programmer must master before efficiently programming a prior art processing system. The task of programming a processing system utilizing mathematical formulas, mathematical steps or other such procedures further complicates the programming process. Computer programs used to control processing systems are typically written in conventional textual programming language such as, for example, machine code, C, C++, or Pascal. Responsive real time performance usually requires that the programmer learn and employ a multi-threaded, real-time operating system. These programming languages and operating systems are not intuitive and are not well adapted for collecting and analyzing data required by the data processing systems.
Users and programmers of processing systems are more often not professional programmers and therefore frequently require high level programming techniques that are more understandable and intuitive. The increasing use of computers and data processing systems by users who are not highly trained in computer programming has lead to the need for programming a data processing system that is easier to use and implement that the current systems.
The prior art has contemplated improvements in the programming of data processing systems over the programming languages listed above, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,901,221; 4,914,568; and 5,301,301. The programming techniques disclosed in these prior art documents attempts to graphically assist the user in programming the data processing system. However, these programming techniques have a number of deficiencies. In particular, these approaches are personal-computer centric and do not natively handle a system of distributed, multi-processing nodes. There are an inordinate number of steps required to complete a programming configuration and there are a number of features that remain counterintuitive. Also, there are a number of unnecessary constraints placed on the user or programmer of the processing system. Finally, the processing system is incapable of dynamically changing during the programming process or during the operation of the processing system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a method of programming a processing system which is relatively easy and intuitive. Further, the programming method should be versatile and have limited constraints to allow the user to fully customize the processing system. As well, the programming method should be adaptable to multi-processing distributed systems. Finally, the programming method should be graphical in nature to assist the user in visually conceptualizing the programming steps and should be capable of dynamically changing during both the programming process and during operation.